Heroes or Heroines

This series of images is called 'Heroes or Heroines'. The images represent a double meaning. Everyone has a hero of some kind that they aspire to, particularly from music, film and literature. I decided to look at some of these heroes such James Bond and Dr Who and turn them into Heroines. A female figure, Sam dressed as various famous and popular male heroes. The inspiration for this project grew from research for my dissertation. I discovered that there were many unsung female heroes of the First World War. Mairi Chisholm and Elsie Knocker, Nurses who defied military authorities to risk there lives on the front line and in the trenches in Belgium, to help the wounded and dying soldiers. There were women who wanted to fight and go to war but they were forbidden however they would find a way around this problem by dressing as a men. The series also interlinks with the idea of Gender Identity. Throughout history it seems women have been cross dressing for centuries for various reasons but mainly because they were often inhibited and forbidden from doing something simply because they were female and deemed incapable, but women such Chisholm and Knocker proved otherwise. It is about being able to freely express who you really are. For some people that can only be expressed in front of the lens dressed as someone else or in the clothes of the gender they identify with. The photographs have been taken in various settings, in the studio and out on location for example, Cley Hill in Wiltshire and Osmington Bay in Dorset. The aim with this series of images it to hopefully make the viewer question the gender identity of the model in the photographs, look closely because people aren't always who they first appear to be!